


We both know you don't mean that

by poly_pr1nce



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alcohol, Eden's Twilight, Exy, Flashbacks, M/M, Mentions of past abuse, Swearing, idk - Freeform, mentions of past relationships - Freeform, neil is amazing, or implied - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-05-02 02:43:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14534940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poly_pr1nce/pseuds/poly_pr1nce
Summary: The Monsters are in Colombia celebrating another win, when Andrew disappears; Neil goes to Roland for help, and they find Andrew having a flashback and trying to calm down.





	We both know you don't mean that

It was Friday night after a home game, so Nicky, Kevin, Aaron, Andrew and Neil were at Edens. Nicky threw back his fifth “celebratory” shot in the last three minutes. The Foxes had won of course, 5-1.   
After another few shots, Aaron and Nicky disappeared to the dance floor and Kevin downed another packet of dust. Andrew and Neil sat at the table, Andrew drinking whatever concoction Roland had made him and Neil nursing his coke.  
For once, Neil lost track of time. He didn’t count the minutes and didn’t count the songs or the shots or the drinks Kevin was inhaling. He barely kept track of how much coke he was drinking himself. He relaxed. He was safe. They all were.  
He was…. happy.  
A while later, Andrew abruptly stood up from his chair.  
Neil looked over at him. “What-”  
“Stay.” Andrew didn’t say anything else as he turned away and made his way through the crowd, disappearing in seconds.  
Neil turned to Kevin but didn’t bother to ask the question- the dark haired man was slouched and half passed out already.  
Cursing, Neil looked around again. Andrew had told him to stay, so by all rights he should do just that. But Andrew had looked stressed, alarmed… frightened. Neil ran his fingers through his hair, cussing himself out for relaxing to the point he didn’t notice Andrew’s state. Normally he would’ve seen this coming.  
So he did the only thing he could think of; he counted and he scanned.  
30 seconds.   
He scanned every face he could see directly in front of him.  
60 seconds.  
He turned and scanned the faces across the room near the booths.  
120 seconds.  
He turned again and scanned the faces behind him.  
180 seconds.  
He turned again and scanned the faces near the bar.  
240 seconds.  
He kneeled up on his seat and tried to glimpse the people coming up and down from the dance floor.  
300 seconds.  
Absolutely no sign of the blonde.  
Neil tried calling him but it went to voicemail. He texted but it stayed unread for another 100 seconds.  
By now Neil was panicking. This wasn’t like Andrew.   
With a final look around, Neil got off his seat and made his way to the bar, turning and scanning faces the whole way.  
He waved down Roland who sauntered over.  
“How many this-”  
“Where’s Andrew?”  
The question clearly took the man by surprise as he blinked and rocked back on his heels.  
“What?”  
“Andrew got up and disappeared a few minutes ago,” Neil said. Six minutes, his brain silently added. “He’s not answering.” Neil knew Roland and Andrew used to make out so of course Andrew trusted the man. Neil just hoped he knew Andrew well enough to know where he would go off to like this.   
Roland was silent for a few seconds before he spoke carefully.  
“Did he say anything?”  
“He told me to stay in my seat,” Neil said, trying to ignore the guilt at the fact he clearly wasn’t doing that very well.  
Roland seemed to think that too but didn’t say it. Instead he looked around.  
“Did he say anything in Andrew language?”  
Neil blinked. Maybe Roland did know Andrew well after all.  
“He looked stressed. I think he might have had a flashback,” Neil said hesitantly. Roland’s face dropped. “He looked scared.”  
Roland chewed his lip, looked around the room again.   
“Two options,” he said quickly. “Either the hallway to the back exit or the storage room. Come on.”   
With that he hurried around the bar, waving at one of the other barstaff before he arrived at Neil’s side.  
Neil followed the tall man through the crowd until they got to a locked door. Roland keyed in a code and pushed the door open.   
“Minyard, you in here?” he called out. Neil couldn’t help but note the gentle undertones of his voice. After a few seconds he reached in and flicked the light on. He pushed the door open more and stepped in enough to look behind it, before flicking the light off and letting the door shut.  
“This way,” was all he said as he lead Neil through the club to another door, keyed in another code and pushed the door open enough to step in and turn to look around. He sighed and stepped back, holding the door open for Neil.   
Suddenly nervous of the state Andrew could be in, Neil gingerly walked forward and into the hallway. Roland shut the door behind him and Neil squinted in the dull orange lighting. A few yards down the hallway, Andrew sat on the floor with his back against the cement wall, and had drawn his knees up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them, his head bowed.   
Neil chewed his lip before moving down the hall, and sat a foot away from Andrew. He didn’t say anything and didn’t look at the man beside him, instead gazing forward ar the cement wall across from them.  
“I told you to stay.”  
It wasn’t a question but Neil answered anyway.  
“You did.”  
Silence. “You also gave me a key,” Neil continued. “You gave me trust. You gave me honesty. You gave me another chance. You gave me hope. You gave me a life.” Now he turned to look at Andrew only to find the blonde man already glaring at him. “You told me to stay.” Neil held the icy blue gaze. “So this is me doing that.”  
Andrew’s glare intensified and he turned away.  
“I really fucking hate you,” he said, but his utter stillness gave away how untrue that was now.  
“We both know you don’t mean that.”  
It wasn’t a question so Andrew didn’t answer.  
The two sat in silence another few minutes before Neil asked the question circling around his head.  
“What happened?”  
Andrew was silent for a full two minutes before he replied.  
“Where are we?”  
“Edens.” Neil didn’t know where this new line was going.  
Andrew glared again. “Neil.”  
Neil tried to think of another response.   
“Colombia.”  
Andrew returned his glare to the poor cement wall. “I saw someone who looked like him.”  
It took Neil a few seconds but when he realised who Andrew meant he felt so stupid for not realising sooner.  
“We could leave.” Neil didn’t look at Andrew by his side. “Drive to your house. Or we could go back to the dorm.”  
Andrew was glaring at him again.  
“And those other three idiots?”  
“They have legs,” Neil said. “Andrew if you need out of here, we can leave right now.”  
Andrew’s glare softened a little and Neil already knew the answer.  
Andrew stood up and Neil followed him down the hallway to another door with a pushbar, and then out into the cool night air. They walked quickly to the car parked in the lot around the corner and as Neil caught the keys Andrew threw at him, he realised just how bad the flashbacks must have been for Andrew to not drive.  
“Where are we going?” Neil asked as he started the engine and pulled out of the lot.  
“Home.”  
Neil turned the car and drove to Andrew’s - Nicky’s- house, parking the car out front.  
They sat in silence before Andrew stiffly got out the car and walked up the drive. Neil sent a quick text to Nicky -  
‘Andrew & I left early, Kevin’s still at the table. U’ll hav 2 walk to the house.’  
\- before hurrying up the path after Andrew.   
They walked into the house together and Andrew lead neil upstairs to his room. Neil hovered in the doorway.  
“Do you still want me to stay in here? I can take the couch if you’d prefer.”  
The blonde looked at him for a few seconds.  
“Stay,” he said again.  
On Andrew’s request Neil took his armbands and shirt off before getting into bed and answering ‘Yes’ to Andrew tracing his scars to ground himself in the present.  
The two fell asleep and Neil did as Andrew had said. He stayed.

**Author's Note:**

> I think we all need to agree Neil is the best fucking boyfriend


End file.
